Acrylic enclosure?

I use lexan a lot for machine guarding. Great stuff, but @Battery_Mooch and @ShutterShock are correct. Over tightening screws can crack it easily.


This is 6mm thick lexan. (Little dirty)

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With rubber washers, correct tightness, and maybe a rubber grommet, it could be a cool lid on an enclosure

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This just makes me want to top mount an old translucent N64 as an enclosure even more…

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Yes, I’ve talked to @A13XR3 about this for a top mount.
We kinda had a plan worked up awhile back.

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Ive been considering that as well, I want an esc box that’ll show off that purple xenith xD

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I could sketch up a V2 of the esc cover for your enclosure and you could mount your esc upside down :crazy_face:

It’ll be on its way today but food for thought

Unfortunately that would be on the underside of your board lol

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Whole other board lol, that one’s goin top mount on the lil jumper. Quite possibly adding in some kind of shock absorption system under the box, if landings are problematic.

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I think someone here did a see through top case

Multiple people maybe but I can’t remember off the top of my head

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I’ve definitely seen one. Dunno if it was on here tho.

I think 3Ds did

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That could be right

Hell, I’ll just use a silicone mold. Pour a straight sheet of epoxy with corner holes, that should hold up.

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I used expanded PVC sheets and CA glue to bind the pieces. Then put a layer of carbon fiber over it with epoxy. Has held up well.

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Whoa, that topic has escalated quickly, lol :wink:

Soooo, acrylic is no go. Shame, this lid has unexpectedly ideal dimensions while I cannot find any other lid/tray/box/whatever other shiet to be at least close enough.

Hence, I guess I need to start building vacuum box. However - you say polycarbonate, I was initially thinking ABS. Pro/cons?

And I need to find out how to make a heater, as it won’t fit my oven…

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ABS is a much more common material, if used correctly it works great

There are currently a couple vacuum formed abs enclosures, with their main issue also being cracking around bolt holes, ironically. If you select the correct thickness it can be a good option

I’m a big fan of Kydex, I’ve made a couple custom enclosures from that - the best enclosures are still custom laid fiberglass in my opinion though

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By far the nicest enclosure I have on hand, imo, is thermoformed kydex. I stepped on it, it is fine. Fibreglass is stronger, for sure, but I’m not as big of a fan of it looks wise. It can come out really nice, but it’s a lot more of a toss up.

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If the lid is perfect size, I’d use it. Reinforce it, sandwich it in fiberglass. But perfect size enclosures are rare.

Ya just depends on how you finish it. Painting, coating, whatever. Raw fiberglass doesn’t look that great imo

…which is? I’m shooting 3 mm?

A bit too pricey for my already way over budget first build :wink: but yes, insane material indeed

Fiberglass party was also an option on the table, but I do not have space nor time for polishing it. And I’ve read it works best with vacuum bag, right? Vacuum table forming is much easier for me and I already have some experience with it.

Still don’t know what to think about polycarbonate Vs ABS.

Maximum usable space on my deck is 62x22 cm exactly. This freakin lid is 62x21. Couldn’t be better.
But if it would be brittle… No, safety first. In the end, I will be riding on a li-ion bomb :wink:

I’m still hoping for a perfect lid. It must exist ffs! It drives me crazy. At first I was turbo happy after measurements, like “oh! 62x22… So 60x20 will do! 3:1 such a beautiful, even ratio, pfff, finding such a lid/box/case/ive-tried-every-keyword should be eeeeeasy”. But well, here we are.

Honestly I don’t know, I just know that Psycotiller does vacuum formed abs and his enclosures have had cracking issues

I’ve never done abs but if I had to guess 3mm might be okay